McKay Class Anthology volume 1 | Page 86

84

Rock

Letting Go of Erica

Continued

The last two stanzas of the song both resume the singer’s plea to forget about his past love. He compares this fixation on thinking of her to a “taser in the ruins,” which suggests he’s stinging and hurting himself by repeatedly bringing up this dead romance. After reminding himself of her once more through the line, “don’t think of her running in an old t-shirt,” he pleads with himself to, “go get some exercise.” This is the culmination of his aversion to thinking of her, avoiding desperately the thoughts that come with sitting around and allowing himself to think. The final stanza includes towards the line, “don’t think of her, crumble at the thought,” asserting this pain and demonstrating a measure of self-awareness; the songwriter is cognizant that this romanticization will only hurt him. The song ends with the line, “always think of her,” which proves the point hinted throughout the song that though one may try to forget a painful event or person in the past, it’s impossible to do so. Further, any attempt to do so will only keep reminding said person of what or whom it is they are trying to forget. As Chad Matheny of Emperor X asserts, “In the song the repeated ‘don't think of her’ line comes across as a mantra the first person narrator's chanting to himself while trying to forget about someone he used to love. But the last line of the song is ‘Always think of her,’ so…yeah. It's impossible to forget about someone, isn't it? It is for me, and I think that's a very good thing” (Gompers 1). Though the song doesn’t make it clear, the author sees this inevitability of memory as a good thing, the last line resounds with a certain resignation that insinuates it isn’t entirely bad. This may also imply that the author has fallen prey to the romanticization of our generation of breakups.

The song details the struggle and final acceptance of trying to forget a painful lost romance, and the futility of avoiding the memory. This fixation is a common trend throughout contemporary pop culture, and expressed uniquely in the song. Through the surreal lyrics and vague meanings, particularly centered around modern technology, it’s easy to derive a feeling of confusion and disorientation that would similarly be felt by someone who hasn’t yet come to terms with the finality of a break up. It epitomizes what it means to be forced, by oneself, to remember.